Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Speech Bubbles, Ink and Clay Offer Powerful Ways to Communicate Science

By Andrea Korte/American Association for the Advancement of Science


The journey of a great white shark, the adventures of “science sleuths” and the inner workings of our genes are just a few of the stories told in comic strips and books, tapping into a rich medium for communicating science and presenting an effective way to use such art forms to teach readers about science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Read the full article.

June 14-17: Library of Awesome at Library of Congress

May 26, 2017

Public Contact: Tyanne Rodgers (202) 707-1507, tyro@loc.gov
Request ADA accommodations five business days in advance at (202) 707-6362 or ADA@loc.gov
                                                                                                    
Library of Congress to Celebrate the World of Comics
The Library of Congress is gearing up for a super summer treat celebrating the role of comics and graphic novels in promoting literacy, as collectibles, in the arts, advertising, sociology, popular culture and history. Making a variety of collection items more accessible to the general public, the "Library of Awesome" features a pop-up display of famous comic-book issues, drawings, original comic strips and related items. Programming for all ages will be offered.

Nearly 100 comic-book collection items will be on display for "Library of Awesome," a pop-up exhibit featuring items from the Library's comic-book collections presented in conjunction with Awesome-Con, Washington, D.C.'s annual convention of comics, cosplay and pop culture. The display will be on view Wednesday, June 14 – Saturday, June 17 on the first floor of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street S.E., Washington D.C. Tickets are not required.

"Comic books attract fans and collectors of all ages. What many people might not know is that the Library of Congress is a collector as well," said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. "We have the world's largest collection of comic books, and I am so pleased we can share some of them during this special display.  I hope this experience will inspire visitors to further explore our collections and discover other surprises."

The collections of the Library of Congress include nearly 140,000 comic books dating back to the 1930s. Visitors will see famous editions of such comic-book characters as Wonder Woman, Superman and some of the most significant artwork and storylines in comic-book history. These include original artwork for the first appearance of Spider-Man and the American classic known as Famous Funnies No. 1 (1934), considered by many to be the first American comic book. First appearances of Batman, the Fantastic Four and the Incredible Hulk will be on display, as well as rare early science fiction and children's comics. The exhibit will also feature first issues of Archie, Luke Cage: Hero for Hire and Supergirl.

Additional programming includes a family-friendly costume contest with a chance to win a pair of tickets to Awesome-Con 2017, workshops and demonstrations.

Events are free and open to the public. Visitors who come to "Library of Awesome" dressed in a superhero character costume will receive a 15 percent discount on merchandise at the Library of Congress Shop.

Media wishing to cover the event must RSVP no later than Thursday, June 1. Additional details about coverage opportunities will follow.

The excitement can be followed on Twitter at @librarycongress and #LCcomics.

The programming includes:

Wednesday, June 14
10 a.m. – 4 p.m. (LJ 113, first floor, Thomas Jefferson Building)
"Library of Awesome" Comic-Book Display
Visitors are invited to explore this pop-up display of more than 100 iconic comic-book issues of today's most popular characters. The display will feature multiple themes including Wonder Woman and milestones, Marvel Comics, DC Comics, children's comics and sci-fi comics. Free and open to the public. No tickets required.  

Thursday, June 15
10 a.m. – 4 p.m. (LJ 113, first floor, Thomas Jefferson Building)
"Library of Awesome" Comic-Book Display
Visitors are invited to explore this pop-up display of more than 100 iconic comic-book issues of today's most popular characters. The display will feature multiple themes including Wonder Woman and milestones, Marvel Comics, DC Comics, children's comics and sci-fi comics. Free and open to the public. No tickets required.    

2 p.m. (Young Readers Center)
Cosplay Demonstration
Library Technician Ashley Dickerson and other cosplayers will demonstrate how they develop characters. Free and open to the public. No tickets required.

3 p.m. (Young Readers Center)
Cosplay Workshop
Library of Congress Young Readers Center staff and cosplayers will teach visitors how to make superhero arm gauntlets using basic craft supplies. Kids are encouraged to come dressed as their favorite characters. Free and open to the public. No tickets required.

Friday, June 16
9:30 a.m. (Neptune Plaza)
Costume Contest
Get your capes ready! Come dressed up as your favorite comic-book character for the ultimate costume contest. There will be separate categories for children and adult participants. The winners of the adult contest will receive a pair of passes to 2017 Awesome-Con to be held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Free and open to the public. Reservations required; visit Eventbrite for reservation and official contest rules.

10 a.m. – 3 p.m. (LJ 113, first floor, Thomas Jefferson Building)
"Library of Awesome" Comic-Book Display
Visitors are invited to explore this pop-up display of more than 100 iconic comic-book issues of today's most popular characters. The display will feature multiple themes including Wonder Woman and milestones, Marvel Comics, DC Comics, children's comics and sci-fi comics. Free and open to the public. No tickets required. 

Saturday, June 17
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (Young Readers Center)
"Library of Awesome" themed activites and displays 
Young Readers Center staff will host activities all day, including drawing comic books, creating props, and assembling costumes. Visitors will also be able to explore comic books, graphic novels and other Young Readers Center collections and partake in superhero and sci-fi-themed photo shoots.

10 a.m. – 4 p.m. (LJ 113, first floor, Thomas Jefferson Building)
"Library of Awesome" Comic-Book Display
Visitors are invited to explore this pop-up display of more than 100 iconic comic-book issues of today's most popular characters. The display will feature multiple themes including Wonder Woman and milestones, Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Children's comics and sci-fi comics. Free and open to the public. No tickets required.      

11 a.m. (Walter E. Washington Convention Center)
"Comics Conversation: Collections and Preservation at the Library"*
Join Library of Congress staff members, including Senior Rare Book Conservator Claire Dekle, Curator of Popular and Applied Graphic Art Sara W. Duke, Reference Specialist Megan Halsband, Head of the Newspaper Section Georgia Higley and Curator of Popular and Applied Graphic Art Martha H. Kennedy, for a panel discussion about the original art and collections held at the Library. Panelists will share highlights of the collections, provide insights on the conservation and preservation of this material, and suggest how attendees might come to use the Library's collections for their own research. *Awesome-Con 2017 ticket required for attendance.

The Library of Awesome is made possible by gifts to the Library of Congress Fund. Those interested in supporting free programs at the Library can contact devofc@loc.gov.

The Serial and Government Publications Division maintains one of the most extensive newspaper collections in the world. It is exceptionally strong in United States newspapers, with 9,000 titles covering the past three centuries. With over 25,000 non-U.S. titles, it is the largest collection of overseas newspapers in the world. Beyond its newspaper holdings, the division also has extensive collections of current periodicals, comic books and government publications. The comic-book collection is available for research use by scholars, collectors, and other researchers in the Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room; for more information visit www.loc.gov/rr/news/coll/049.html.

The Library of Congress is the world's largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States—and extensive materials from around the world—both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. Explore collections, reference services and other programs and plan a visit at loc.gov, access the official site for U.S. federal legislative information at congress.gov, and register creative works of authorship at copyright.gov.

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PR 17-63
2017-05-26
ISSN 0731-3527
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June 14: Women in comics at National Museum of Women in the Arts





For much of comics history, women characters were introduced as plot devices for the leading male characters with disheartening regularity. Join us for a conversation about the new wave of superheroines entering the comic universe, leading the fight for justice and dispelling traditional stereotypes in fiction and beyond. 

Joining the conversation are:
Moderated by Emily Whitten, ComicMix.com writer and Awesome Con moderator, based in Washington, D.C.



Sign up now for your Friend Discount Rate of $15! Discount tickets are limited. (Regular price: $25 general; $20 members, seniors, students). Price includes museum admission and Catalyst cocktail hour. Galleries open to attendees from 3 p.m - 6:45 p.m. Museum store will have speaker's books and comics for sale before and after the program

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__nmwa.us12.list-2Dmanage.com_track_click-3Fu-3Dc9a0cfd7a0c2b162ef936a052-26id-3D5ede2abb49-26e-3D225df7de93&d=DQMFaQ&c=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM&r=5Ly55I131CjW7KAYeC5suAHy2fYqba0vo9mjUwJEo_w&m=ce2NPwRJ-I5M0XHjq4vgdyrvk9lXI-LgB80LNRyDv9M&s=HvKJv2n7d1dUuM0MRsQehGPL_yuMDmYm7qn_t3xhO1w&e=

Library of Congress to launch webcomics collection says Comic Riffs


Webcomic fans, rejoice: Library of Congress is launching a new archive for you



Washington Post
Comic Riffs blog June 13 2017
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2017/06/13/webcomic-fans-rejoice-library-of-congress-is-launching-a-new-archive-for-you/


LOC just put out a press release on this:

June 13, 2017


Webcomics and Web Cultures Archives Now on loc.gov
Collections are newest additions to born-digital content online

The Library of Congress today announced two new born-digital collections are now available on loc.gov – the Webcomics Web Archive and the Web Cultures Web Archive.

The Webcomics Web Archive (https://www.loc.gov/collections/webcomics-web-archive/about-this-collection/) focuses on comics created specifically for the web and supplements the Library’s extensive holdings in comic books, graphic novels and original comic art.

“Webcomics are an increasingly popular format utilized by contemporary creators in the field  and often include material by artists not available elsewhere,” said Megan Halsband, a librarian in the Serial and Government Publications Division.

Webcomics selected for this collection include award-winning comics as well as webcomics that are significant for their longevity, reputation or subject matter. The collection includes sites such as Dinosaur Comics, Hyperbole and a Half, and XKCD. Also included are works by artists and subjects not traditionally represented in mainstream comics, including women artists and characters, artists and characters of color, LGBTQ+ artists and characters, as well as subjects such as politics, health and autobiography.

The Web Cultures Web Archive (https://www.loc.gov/collections/web-cultures-web-archive/about-this-collection/) is a representative sampling of websites documenting the creation and sharing of emergent cultural traditions on the web such as GIFs, memes and emoji. The project is part of the American Folklife Center, established by Congress to document traditional cultural forms and practices.

“The proliferation of smart phones, tablets and wireless internet connection has positioned networked communication as a space where people increasingly develop and share folklore,” said Elizabeth Peterson, director of the American Folklife Center. “This effort will help scholars 25 and 100 years from now have a fuller picture of the culture and life of people today. “Sites included in the archive are Urban Dictionary, Internet Meme Database, Emojipedia and Boing Boing.

The Library collected and is displaying these sites with permission. Any further use by the public may also require permission.

The Library has been archiving select websites since 2000 and has now preserved more than a petabyte of web content, including collections of federal executive, legislative and judicial websites; sites of international governments; and national institutions such as the U.S. Olympic Committee and the American Red Cross.  

The webcomics and web cultures archives are among numerous collections newly available online during the past year. Others include the papers of U.S. Presidents Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce and William Henry Harrison; the papers of Sigmund Freud; a collection of more than 4,600 newspapers from Japanese-American internment camps; and 25,000 fire-insurance maps from communities across America, the first installment of 500,000 that will be accessible online.

The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States ­­— and extensive materials from around the world — both on site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office.  Explore collections, reference services and other programs and plan a visit at loc.gov, access the official site for U.S. federal legislative information at congress.gov and register creative works of authorship at copyright.gov.

PR 17-087
2017-06-13
ISSN 0731-3527

The real history behind the look of "Wonder Woman"s Dr. Poison

by Mike Rhode

The new Wonder Woman movie has a long-standing villain named Dr. Poison who is developing a super poison gas to reverse Germany's imminent loss of the Great War. Elena Anaya's character is shown with a porcelain mask over the lower quadrant of the left side of her face.


This mask actually has a background in the medical history of World War I. Plastic surgery was still in developmental stages, and for some soldiers who were too badly injured, Anna Coleman Ladd of the American Red Cross in Paris, as did sculptor Derwent Wood in a London hospital, made masks of enameled-metal. The masks were painted to match skin color.

Very few of these masks were made. The soldiers receiving them had horrific wounds from shells or shrapnel (as seen in the pictures that follow), and were often lacking bone or soft tissue to be reconstructed, often including their noses or eyes. Dr. Poison's mask drops off late in the film, and she's revealed to have a gaping wound in her cheek, which in real life, probably would have been leaking saliva and making it difficult for her to eat or enunciate clearly. I have no idea how she received the initial wound since she should have been a research scientist far from the front, but the movie shows her enjoying her work too much, so perhaps she went in person to see the use of mustard gas at the front.

Online for the first time is the 1919 report "United States Naval Medical Bulletin Special Number:Report On The Medical And Surgical Developments Of The War" by William Seaman Bainridge, Lieutenant Commander, Medical Corps, United States Naval Reserve Force courtesy of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery's Historian's Office. The following pages are from the report and give some idea of the process:









Driver F

Trooper E



"Red Cross Work on Mutilés at Paris, 1918" a short film from the National Museum of Health and Medicine can be seen via the Medical Heritage Library and shows Ladd and her Parisian studio. The National Library of Medicine has written about the film here and here.

National Library of Medicine spotlights Stan Mack's WWII cartoons

Malaria Pinup Calendars, 1945

By Mike "Sport" Murphy

Originally published in Hidden Treasure: The National Library of Medicine, 2011.

Upper half of illustration consists of a calendar and lower half consists of a woman looking at a picture frame of a solider.
A swell pair of all-American gams serve as a risqué reminder to keep pulling for victory over both Japan and mosquitoes. These pinup calendars were part of a larger antimalarial campaign that emphasized the use of bed nets, mosquito repellent, Atabrine (an antimalarial pill), avoidance of places where mosquitoes swarm at night, and keeping skin covered.

Monday, June 12, 2017

The Post on Wonder Woman, Batman and Marie Kondo

Wonder Woman's top animated voice talks about being the bridge between Lynda Carter and Gal Gadot


Washington Post
Comic Riffs blog June 12 a2017
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2017/06/12/wonder-womans-top-animated-voice-talks-about-being-the-bridge-between-lynda-carter-and-gal-godot/

Marie Kondo transforms into a comic book character to sell you KonMari


Washington Post.com (June 12 2017): https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/marie-kondo-transforms-into-a-comic-book-character-to-sell-you-konmari/2017/06/08/7ae5f50e-4a18-11e7-9669-250d0b15f83b_story.html
 

R.I.P.: How Adam West made peace with life and career after his iconic 'Batman' role [in print as Adam West: 1928-2017; Forever the Campy Batman]
Express (June 12): 20
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2017/06/10/rip-how-adam-west-made-peace-with-life-after-his-iconic-batman-role/

Glen Weldon on Adam West's Batman

Adam West Saved Batman. And Me.

NPR's Monkey See blog
http://www.npr.org/sections/monkeysee/2017/06/11/532411148/adam-west-saved-batman-and-me

Library of Congress' CM Bell collection has one cartoon

The Library just put out a blog post about digitizing 25,000 photos from Washington at the turn of the 20th century.

06/12/2017 10:08 AM EDT

Military brass, senators, socialites and even babies—these are a handful of Washington, D.C., subjects photographed by Charles Milton Bell (1848–93) during the last quarter of the 19th century. The Library recently digitized more than 25,000 glass plate negatives produced by Bell and his successors between 1873 and the early years of the 20th century...


There's no cartoonists and only one cartoon in there. "Miss Callay [cartoon]" which "May depict Grover Cleveland embracing Frances Folsom." Personally I think there's something else going on besides their romance because she's dressed as Columbia, while he appears to be wearing a European uniform.


Sunday, June 11, 2017

New comics shop named in memory of local creator

A new comics store, Venus's Comic Shop, is scheduled to open July 8 at Union Station. Local comic book creator and store co-owner Raymond Francis told us the store is named in memory of Venus Winston, a D.C.-based comic book writer/artist who passed away in December after a battle with cancer. A portion of the store's monthly profits will be donated to cancer research, Francis said. Other members of the store's team include Robert Spencer, Zach Winland and Rishawna Gould. The store will have a booth (table 606) at AwesomeCon next weekend, and several members of the team will participate on various panels (Crucial Crisis Comics is their comics venture).




The Post on the death of TV's Batman

Friday, June 09, 2017

Onion reports President Obama is writing his graphic novel autobiography

Before you ask, yes, this is satire, although he really just bought a house in DC and is hanging around for a while.

Obama Sends Publisher Collection Of Pages For Presidential Graphic Novel

Onion June 9 2017

http://www.theonion.com/article/obama-sends-publisher-collection-pages-presidentia-56208

Comic Riffs talks to Arctic Circle about environmentalism

On World Oceans Day, 'Arctic Circle' artist explains how her comic takes on climate change


Washington Post
Comic Riffs blog June 8 2017
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2017/06/08/on-world-oceans-day-the-arctic-circle-artist-explains-how-her-comic-takes-on-climate-change/

Comic Riffs on the poison gas plot of Wonder Woman

The scene in 'Wonder Woman' where you can't help but think of Syria


Washington Post
Comic Riffs blog June 6 2017
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2017/06/06/the-one-scene-in-wonder-woman-where-you-cant-help-but-think-of-syria/

Sara Duke interviewed on Courtroom Illustration exhibit

Inside the Exhibition "Drawing Justice: The Art of Courtroom Illustration"

The following is an interview featuring Sara W. Duke, Curator of Popular and Applied Graphic Arts, Prints and Photographs Division.

http://blogs.loc.gov/picturethis/2017/06/inside-the-exhibition-drawing-justice-the-art-of-courtroom-illustration/?loclr=eaptb

June 17: Smoketown creators at Fantom Comics


  • c
    Saturday, June 17 at 2 PM - 4 PM


  • Fantom Comics
    2010 P Street NW, Washington, District of Columbia 20036